Joe Montana famously spotted the funnyman in the stands just before engineering the 49ers’ winning drive in the closing minutes of Super Bowl XXIII in 1989. The moment endures as a symbol of Montana’s cool under pressure: a celebrity sighting one moment, a touchdown pass to John Taylor to beat the Cincinnati Bengals 20-16 the next.

The rarely told postscript is that Candy was something of a scout at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami that day. He liked what he saw so much that he later tried to sign Montana to the Canadian Football League.

It’s true, even if it sounds like the plot of one of Candy’s movies: A trio of wealthy buddies — Candy, Wayne Gretzky and Bruce McNall — owned the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL and in 1992 wanted to make a splash by luring an established NFL star.

“When I mentioned to (Candy) the idea of Montana, he said, ‘Oh, my god. That would be wonderful. We have to find a way to do it. How can I help?” McNall, 65, said in a phone interview.

The trio ventured that Montana might at least think about trying something different. This was three years after that Super Bowl moment, when the three-time All-Pro was working his way back from an elbow injury that cost him all of the ’91 season.

The Argonauts owners theorized that the 49ers passer, at age 36, might be fed up with the enduring Steve Young quarterback controversy in San Francisco. Plus, Candy and his group were on a roll. A year earlier, the shocked football by signing college star Raghib “Rocket” Ismail, the Heisman Trophy runner up, to a four-year $18.2 million deal.

Ismail promptly led Argonauts to the 1991 Grey Cup championship.

But Montana? Really?

“We’d won the championship and so forth and I thought to myself, ‘Maybe there’s a way of getting a real superstar player who is nearing the end of his career,” McNall said. “Maybe it would be someone who wants to try a different venue and become the biggest gun in Canada’s history.”

“I knew he wasn’t going to be cheap. We were prepared to give him a big number, for sure.”

Candy, best known for his roles in “Stripes” and “Trains, Planes and Automobiles,” died of a heart attack in 1994. He was 43. The Toronto native was an enthusiastic sports fans and ardent supporter of the Canadian sports. Besides being part of the Argonauts ownership group from 1991 until his death, he served as an unofficial ambassador for the CFL.

“Huge. Huge. I mean, John did more for that franchise than anybody,” McNall said. “He loved football. He loved the CFL. Having grown up in the Toronto area, he was a real nut.

“Not only would he go to our home games and go out in the stands and shake hands and encourage people, he would do the same thing at road games. He would bend over backward to go anywhere. If the CFL asked him to go to Winnepeg, he’d get on a plane to Winnipeg. He was a huge fan.”

No spoiler alert here: Montana somehow resisted the lure of the CFL and finished his career in the USA. The 49ers traded him to Kansas City after the ’92 season, and he had two strong seasons for the Chiefs before retiring at age 38.

Montana has joked about Candy’s recruiting pitch over the years. In November, speaking at Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce event in San Jose, the eight-time Pro Bowl selection said that’s how he was able to spot the actor so easily: “Now, I’d met John Candy already because, a number of years before that, my contract was up and … he was trying to get me to come to Canada.”

That version don’t add up — Super Bowl XXIII was in ’89 and Candy became a team owner in ’91 — but it doesn’t change the heart of one of the greatest Montana stories ever told.

Kicker Jim Breech made a 40-yard field goal with 3:20 left to give the Bengals a 16-13 lead. As stomachs churned elsewhere across the football universe, an unfazed Montana killed time during the TV timeout by casting a glance toward the stands.

That’s when he saw Candy in the stands. So he approached Harris Barton, the offensive lineman who had spent all week regaling teammates with his star-struck tales.

“So I went over and to Harris and said, ‘H, there’s John Candy,”‘ Montana recalled in November. “Now, Harris is as (tightly wound) as they come. If it’s 8 minutes, he will stand like this” — here, Montana emulates a statue — “for the entire 8 minutes.

“He looked over at the stands. Then he turned back to me with one of those looks that said, ‘Are you nuts? We’re in the Super Bowl. We’re trying to win a game.”

Montana laughed.

“Harris appreciates it a lot more today than he did back then.”

The quarterback the led a 92-yard drive over 11 plays, capped by a 10-yard pass to Taylor.

Now, every time McNall sees the highlight on TV, he looks back to his own Hail Mary.

“For sure. You can’t help but look back and think, ‘Wow. What could have been? It was really something special,” he said. “That opportunity was there. … We definitely put out some feelers and gave it a shot.”

Dieter Kurtenbach says the San Francisco Giants are embarrassing themselves by fixating on the luxury tax instead of being more aggressive in rebuilding their 98-loss team. Also, he talks about why the 49ers need to pay Jimmy Garoppolo now, or else.